Analysis of the radiated emission from the ESD generator return cable

The international standards on electrostatic discharge describes about the test instrumentation and procedures for the discharge but fail to address the radiated emission occurring from the generator return cable .This paper describes about the possibility of the EUT performance degradation that happens due to the radiated emission from the return cable of the ESD generator. The emission from the return cable of the ESG gun is measured at a distance of 3 m and 10 m. Also the coupling of the noise from the return cable on to the nearby cables is measured. The measurements were done in time domain due to the transient nature of the noise and transformed into frequency domain. The emission from the return cable was found to considerable and could not be ignored. The observations may be referred to the standard setting committee and considered for possible amendment in the standard during the revision for ensuring the repeatability for test.